The Kingdom Breaks Through

I stopped at the UPS store to make copies.
It is my go to place before each Bible study I teach in my home.
I see the same employees each time I go into the store.
They have come to expect me every other week.

The first half of our Bible study, from September to December, had no interruptions.
However, our second half, from January to April, was cancelled twice.
Each of the two snowstorms we had, happened to occur on a Wednesday.
Our last two Bible study classes had to be rescheduled.

Copy machines intimidate me.
The old-fashioned kind, where you lift up the lid and place your paper on the glass, is fine.
However, the new copy machines have so many bells and whistles.
The employees in the UPS store make the copies for me; I am never sure which buttons to push.

I was not aware that any of the employees even looked at the paper I gave them to copy.
I thought that after pushing buttons for the specifics of my job, they would not notice.
I could not have been more wrong.
One day, the question was asked.

You’re a teacher; what do you teach? The young man asked as he waited for thirty copies.
I teach a Bible study in my home, I answered.
I thought it was something like that, he said.
I kept seeing the word, Jesus, he added.

His remark made me smile.
To think that a young man who makes copies for me, actually reads a little bit of our notes.
I became instantly aware of the scope of God’s Kingdom.
God’s Kingdom breaks through in the oddest places.

With the two snowstorms, I had not been into the UPS store every other week.
Apparently, they noticed that I had not been there.
Apparently, the young man missed making my copies.
Copying our notes may be the only glimpse of the Bible he ever sees.

I just went into the store to make copies for our last Bible study until September.
A new young man was behind the counter.
Do you want me to make the copies for you? He asked.
I would appreciate it, I said, since the copiers intimidate me.

He laughed and began to push all the correct buttons.
I stood off to the side to let him do his work.
I watched him read the notes.
I watched him read the lyrics of the songs that we will listen to at the end of our study.

I did not interrupt.
I did not speak to him while he was helping me.
I have no idea how God intends to use this simple printing job at the UPS store.
However, I know that God’s Kingdom will break through.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14)

I stood there and thought of the young man that helped me before one of the snowstorms.
I thought about how he recognized that it was a Bible study I teach.
I remembered the last thing he said before he put my copies in a bag.
I kept seeing the word, Jesus.

Jesus is the Word.
Jesus is the Word who became flesh.
Jesus is the Word who made His dwelling among us.
Jesus is the Word the young man saw on the Bible study notes.

Jesus is seen in the most obscure places.
We, who are in Christ, must make Him known.
Jesus cannot be just a word on paper.
Jesus is THE Word who came to save us.

You never know how someone will come in contact with Jesus.
It may be in a way you could never imagine, yet a way that is God ordained.
I never dreamed that a young man at the UPS store would catch a glimpse of the word, Jesus.
A simple glimpse of the Word on the paper; a glimpse of the Word in me.